A 2010 ruling bans D&D from being played in prison
Dungeons and Dragons or D&D requires players to follow a Dungeon Master or DM whose role is to create an experience that is immersive and engaging. D&D has been around since 1974, and 2014 marked its 70th anniversary. The most recent edition, 5e has been immensely successful and has washed out the bad taste of the disappointing 4e which was criticized as abandoning what long-time fans had loved and adored. The fear is that the crowd playing D&D is comprised mostly of older players with very few younger players getting involved. This could be because of the increased use and accessibility of technology making D&D not as influential as it once was on youth. Either way D&D is immensely popular but recent claims have created a correlation to the game and the mimetic qualities the game possesses in gang organization. In 2004, Henry T. Singer, an inmate, had his D&D materials confiscated, and in 2010 an appeal was rejected essentially banning the game in prison.
This 2004 case was not the first to take place as the role-playing game is not without its share of controversy; in the 1980s there were multiple cases and a fear over the psychological effects of the tabletop role-playing game. D&D was an unknown entity in the early ‘80s so people were afraid and weary of the effects the game had psychologically. This fear was exacerbated in 1979, by the well-publicized search of the disappearance of 16-year-old James Dallas Egbert III, who committed suicide in the utility tunnels beneath the Michigan state University campus while enacting a live-action version of the game. The events involving Egbert lead to a fictionalized account called Mazes and Monsters published by Rona Jaffe in 1981 which was adapted into a movie starring Tom Hanks in 1982. A book revealing what really occurred surrounding the incident was written by William Dear, the private investigator hired with tracking down Egbert titled The Dungeon Master. In it Dear says that it was not the game but Egberts domineering mother that lead him to take his own life. Around the same time as the 1982 film Mazes and Monsters was released, Patricia Pulling, an anti-occult campaigner created a one person advocacy group called Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons (BADD) with the intent of eliminating D&D after her son committed suicide in 1982.
Fast-forward to 2002, Kevin T. Singer was arrested and subsequently charged with a life sentence for bludgeoning his sister’s boyfriend to death. Singer had been playing D&D since childhood, but following his 2002 arrest, his D&D materials were confiscated in 2004. As a result of this this confiscation, he filed for an appeal claiming that his First Amendment rights were being violated. The ban, however, was upheld in the Seventh Circuit court on Jan. 25, 2010, by a three-judge panel. Judge John Tinder explained the reason why they took Singer’s materials: “Waupun’s long-serving disruptive group coordinator, Captain Bruce Muraski, received an anonymous letter from an inmate. The letter expressed concern that Singer and three other inmates were forming a D&D gang and were trying to recruit others to join by passing around their D&D publications and touting the ‘rush’ they got from playing the game. Muraski, Waupun’s expert on gang activity, decided to heed the letter’s advice and ‘check into this gang before it gets out of hand.’”
Muraski provided testimony explaining his reasoning that D&D promotes gangs stating “that the policy was intended to promote prison security because cooperative games can mimic the organization of gangs and lead to the actual development thereof. Muraski elaborated that during D&D games, one player is denoted the ‘Dungeon Master.’ The Dungeon Master is tasked with giving directions to other players, which Muraski testified mimics the organization of a gang. At bottom, his testimony about this policy aim highlighted Waupun’s worries about cooperative activity among inmates particularly that carried out in an organized, hierarchical fashion.”
Singer collected 15 affiants, including 11 prisoners who collectively serve 100-year sentences, along with three “experts” who all claim that they have never heard of gang-related incidents involving D&D. Muraski’s logic prevailed over Singer’s collected affiants and the judges rejected Singer’s appeal. The fear is not about gang-related incidents in the past, but whether or not current unchecked gang-related activities would go-on and if security would be undermined. Muraski’s logic and the Judge’s lack of D&D knowledge, coupled with Singer’s lack of credible out-of-jail authority is what led to the decision. Again there is fear regarding D&D, although, it is not about corrupting the youth, but the assertion about its potential as a security threat.